Cherry season is upon us. As with asparagus, cherries will probably arrive later than usual this year because of the massive amount of rain we received this winter. Spring arrived later, so cherry trees blossomed a few weeks late. Predictions are that Memorial Day weekend through most of June will be when the bulk of the cherry crop is delivered to customers at farmers’ markets.
The crop looks like it will be a decent one this year. Cherry trees need a specific number of “chill hours” to regulate their growth and produce a good yield, and this past winter California had lower temperatures at night than in the previous year, allowing the trees to blossom and open evenly during the spring.
A chill hour is equal to one hour that a fruit tree spends in cooler temperatures ranging from 45° to 32°F. The California Irrigation Management System (CIMIS) collects data on water usage and chill hours for a variety of fruit trees and from this data farmers can predict when their crops will be ready to harvest and in what condition. As can be seen, there’s much more to farming than just planting and harvesting!
The cherry season in California is short, running from May to June, usually with only a six-week window to enjoy this fantastic fruit. There are more than 50 varieties and about 40,000 acres of cherry orchards in California. The trees grow on rolling hills and flat landscapes from Sacramento all the way down to Bakersfield, with most of the growing areas in southern Santa Clara and northern San Benito counties. There are cherry trees in Fresno and smaller boutique orchards elsewhere in Northern California, such as El Dorado County.
Your local farmers’ market will have a wide assortment of different cherries from which to choose. Coming in one after the other during the short harvest are Bing, Brooks, Burlats, Rainier, Royal Hazel, and many others. Be sure to try the Champagne Coral variety, a lovely yellow blush-colored cherry with very sweet flavor. Bings are a large, multipurpose sweet cherry, the Rainier a colorful favorite, and the Royal Hazel offering a slightly tart flavor, great for canning and baking. Try some of each variety as they arrive in the weeks ahead. Be patient, because they’ll arrive later than usual at the farmers’ market
Why get your cherries at the farmers’ market? Becuase there you can be assured that the farmers who brought the cherries to market are the ones who grew them, that they have been just recently picked by hand and that they offer varieties you won’t find in the grocery store. So bring a big bag, fill it with market-fresh cherries and enjoy one of the season’s favorite fruits. You’ll find succulent sweet cherries from Cipponeri Farms out of Turlock, Diaz Farms from Fowler, A. Mark Lewis Orchards and Gotelli Farms, both out of Stockton.
Recipe: Cherry Salsa
ingredients
2 cups of chopped cherries
1 cup of chopped cucumber
¼ cup of jalapeño peppers, seeded and finely chopped
¼ cup of finely chopped cilantro
1 garlic clove, minced
2 tablespoons of finely chopped red onion
1 tablespoon of white balsamic vinegar
½ teaspoon of salt
instructions
Chop the cherries and vegetables and place them in a medium-sized bowl. Add white balsamic vinegar and salt and stir gently. Let the salsa sit for 30 minutes before serving. Serve on pork, chicken or with tortilla chips.
Debra Morris is a promotions coordinator for the Pacific Coast Farmers’ Market Association and writes the Time Is Ripe column. Contact her at debramorris@pcfma.com.
